Policy and Science for Global Health Security: Shaping the Course of International Health.

The global burden of infectious diseases and the increased attention to natural, accidental, and deliberate biological threats has resulted in significant investment in infectious disease research. Translating the results of these studies to inform prevention, detection, and response efforts often can be challenging, especially if prior relationships and communications have not been established with decision-makers. Whatever scientific information is shared with decision-makers before, during, and after public health emergencies is highly dependent on the individuals or organizations who are communicating with policy-makers. This article briefly describes the landscape of stakeholders involved in information-sharing before and during emergencies. We identify critical gaps in translation of scientific expertise and results, and biosafety and biosecurity measures to public health policy and practice with a focus on One Health and zoonotic diseases. Finally, we conclude by exploring ways of improving communication and funding, both of which help to address the identified gaps. By leveraging existing scientific information (from both the natural and social sciences) in the public health decision-making process, large-scale outbreaks may be averted even in low-income countries.

One Health Core Competency Domains.

The emergence of complex global challenges at the convergence of human, animal, and environmental health has catalyzed a movement supporting "One Health" approaches. Despite recognition of the importance of One Health approaches to address these complex challenges, little effort has been directed at identifying the seminal knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for individuals to successfully contribute to One Health efforts. Between 2008 and 2011, three groups independently embarked on separate initiatives to identify core competencies for professionals involved with One Health approaches. Core competencies were considered critically important for guiding curriculum development and continuing professional education, as they describe the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to be effective. A workshop was convened in 2012 to synthesize the various strands of work on One Health competencies. Despite having different mandates, participants, and approaches, all of these initiatives identified similar core competency domains: management; communication and informatics; values and ethics; leadership; teams and collaboration; roles and responsibilities; and systems thinking. These core competency domains have been used to develop new continuing professional education programs for One Health professionals and help university curricula prepare new graduates to be able to contribute more effectively to One Health approaches.

Review of institute of medicine and national research council recommendations for one health initiative.

Human health is inextricably linked to the health of animals and the viability of ecosystems; this is a concept commonly known as One Health. Over the last 2 decades, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Research Council (NRC) have published consensus reports and workshop summaries addressing a variety of threats to animal, human, and ecosystem health. We reviewed a selection of these publications and identified recommendations from NRC and IOM/NRC consensus reports and from opinions expressed in workshop summaries that are relevant to implementation of the One Health paradigm shift. We grouped these recommendations and opinions into thematic categories to determine if sufficient attention has been given to various aspects of One Health. We conclude that although One Health themes have been included throughout numerous IOM and NRC publications, identified gaps remain that may warrant targeted studies related to the One Health approach.

U.S. Government engagement in support of global disease surveillance.

Global cooperation is essential for coordinated planning and response to public health emergencies, as well as for building sufficient capacity around the world to detect, assess and respond to health events. The United States is committed to, and actively engaged in, supporting disease surveillance capacity building around the world. We recognize that there are many agencies involved in this effort, which can become confusing to partner countries and other public health entities. This paper aims to describe the agencies and offices working directly on global disease surveillance capacity building in order to clarify the United States Government interagency efforts in this space.